


This Home I Built Has Space For You

by predilection



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Epilogue, F/M, Post-Endless Waltz
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 08:13:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13383777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/predilection/pseuds/predilection
Summary: Pagan finally convinces Relena to buy a place of her own.Or: Five times Heero and Relena interact after Endless Waltz.





	This Home I Built Has Space For You

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is made up of glimpses of what I think Heero and Relena's dynamic would be like post-Endless Waltz.
> 
> Also, it took me eighteen years, but I've finally written fic about these two!

**V**

It takes almost two and a half years of living out of suitcases in hotels and official rooms for Pagan to finally convince Relena to buy a place of her own.

She has more important and pressing concerns than looking for property, but she decides on a small flat on the outskirts of Vienna and arranges for Pagan to purchase and furnish it, hoping it will be nice but not excessive. Pagan instead buys the entire building and renovates it before bringing in interior decorators. The results are beautiful and to her taste, and though it's large, it only has two more bedrooms than she knows what to do with.

She stays in her new place for only three nights the first month she owns it, too busy traveling to and from meetings elsewhere. She starts living there in earnest when she finally takes a week off -- her first real break in over two years -- and she uses the opportunity to not only sleep under her own roof, but also to explore her new neighborhood with Pagan.

Her second morning there, she finds a note written on a folded-up piece of paper on her kitchen table. She knows who it's from the moment she lays her eyes on it, and she can't help the anticipation she feels as she reaches down to pick it up.

It reads: _A security system is required. Please see below recommendations. Moreover, the following structural weaknesses need to be addressed._

She rolls her eyes, but she's smiling when she puts the paper on the counter where she leaves messages for Pagan. 

Heero is terrible at this, but he's trying in his own way to watch out for her, and for now, that's enough.

*

Her schedule for the next six weeks is booked solid with diplomatic meetings, presentations, and other events, but before she leaves her new house, she takes pen to paper and writes a note of her own.

_Please use the door next time. You know you're welcome here._

She leaves a spar key under the note, and she's pleased when Pagan informs her the following day that both the note and the key disappeared over night.

 

**IV**

There's a month until the anniversary of the end of the war when she runs into Quatre at a conference on L3 where he's representing the Winner Corporation. He's as kind and cordial as always, and once the meeting finishes, he quietly and discretely invites her elsewhere to talk.

He pours her tea as they take seats in plush chairs in what she is sure must be a secure room. She learns that he's still in contact with the other pilots, and that, of all of them, it's Trowa he sees the most. She also learns that Heero recently paid him a visit and stayed with him for a few days.

"Is he well?" she asks.

"Yes, but..." Quatre hesitates, teacup in hand, graceful in his movements. "He's tired, like we all are. The only difference is that he's never stopped, even for a moment, to take care of himself."

"Do you think he will?" she asks.

"He has to."

She bites her lip. "Is there anything we can do?"

Quatre sips his tea, and the question hangs there in the air. "In time, I'm sure he'll realize what he needs to do on his own," he tells her eventually. "That reminds me..."

He stands and crosses the room to a mahogany hutch against the wall. He opens one of its top drawers, pulls out an envelope, and walks back to hand it to her. "Heero left this for you."

It's a proper envelope -- a proper letter this time. She accepts it, and she takes a moment to feel the texture of the paper and the weight of it in her hands. Then she rips it in two.

"Relena?" Quatre asks, surprise clear on his face. 

She smiles, the expression both polite and cutting. "Tell Heero that if he has something to say to me, he can tell me in person."

He blinks at her, nonplussed, but then he shakes his head, and she can hear laughter in his voice and see the matching mirth in his eyes when he says, "I will."

 

**III**

The following January, she receives a death threat. It's far from her first, but the Preventers deem this one serious enough to remove her from her political duties.

She protests their interference, but her work isn't as critical as it was the year before. In the end, she feigns illness, issuing a press release apologizing for her absence and promising that she'll be resting in her home in Vienna.

In reality, they covertly drive her to a safe house located in the heart of a major, bustling city. It's a one-bedroom apartment, and though its windows and walls are reinforced, it looks quite regular. It lacks the opulence of the life Relena was born into, and is the last place anyone would look for her.

The Preventers agent that meets her inside -- the one who's assigned with keeping her safe -- is none other than Heero.

"Relena," he says when he meets her at the door, and it's because she knows him that she can hear the warmth in his voice.

"It's good to see you again, Heero," she tells him honestly.

To her surprise, he makes dinner. The kitchen is fully stocked, and she watches from the table as he rolls up the sleeves of the long-sleeved shirt he's wearing and expertly slices vegetables he adds to a soup. 

He's skilled at cooking, and she's not sure why that surprises her. He's an expert at many things, but there's something about him in a kitchen -- about him in this domestic setting -- that she thinks is unexpectedly wonderful. 

They eat but it isn't in silence. Heero shares with her the intel he has on the group targeting her. In return, she tells him about her most recent meetings and negotiations, and about the challenges she can foresee encountering soon. 

Later, after she's gotten ready for bed, she finds Heero sitting on living room's worn couch, his laptop open on his lap.

"Do you plan on sleeping?" she asks from where she's leaning against the doorframe.

He shakes his head. "I'm fine." 

She leaves for the bedroom, but instead of getting into the bed, she strips it of its blanket. She returns to the living room with it in her arms.

"Relena?" Heero asks as she takes a seat next to him on the couch and adjusts the blanket so it's draped over her whole body from the neck down. She studies his face, looking for any sign of discomfort and for the mask of indifference he hides behind, but he looks surprised. It gives her the confidence to carefully lean against his side and rest her head against his shoulder.

He stops typing, and she enjoys the way his body radiates warmth as they sit together in silence.

"I miss you," she says finally, her voice barely more than a whisper. "Don't make me wait forever."

He doesn't say anything and it's a long time before he responds. Minutes upon minutes pass by, and she's starting to doze when she hears him close the laptop and set it down elsewhere. He shifts, turning towards her and leaning against the armrest so she can rest more comfortably against his chest rather than try to sleep upright against his arm. 

That's an answer in and of itself, but before she falls asleep, she feels one of his hands gently card through her hair.

*

"You could come with me," she reminds him after the crisis has passed and a car has been dispatched to take her home. 

"I know," he says simply, like it's a matter of fact -- like it's only a matter of time -- and she hears the promise his words are meant to be.

 

**II**

She sees him more after that -- standing in the rafters as she gives speeches, acting as a valet at a function, dressed as a courier in the lobby of her hotel. She knows that his presence as her bodyguard is nothing new, just as she knows that the only reason she's noticing him now is because he's allowing himself to be seen.

They interact very little beyond that until she spots him at a dinner party dressed in formal attire and pretending to be a guest. She continues discussing ongoing negotiations with the diplomats she's speaking to and acts like she's noticing him for the first time when he approaches her.

"May I have this dance?" he asks as the music changes.

She makes a show of eyeing him curiously before agreeing and excusing herself. She carefully puts one hand on his shoulder, the other in his hand, and lets him lead. His steps are precise and perfect, careful like everything he does, and it's not lost on her that he deliberately sought her out.

"Has there been another threat?" she asks quietly.

"No," he says. 

"Am I need elsewhere?" 

Heero shakes his head minutely. "There's no issue."

It takes her a second, and then she lets the side of her mouth curve upwards as understanding dawns on her. He's here dressed like this and dancing with her because he _wants_ to be. 

"I will be away for two months," he tells her, and she's warmed by not only by his presence but also by his words. Even though she doesn't want him to leave, he's never warned her about his absences before.

"A mission?" she asks. 

He nods.

"And when you return?" she asks carefully.

He doesn't answer. She's not sure he will, but then he says, simply, "Relena," and the obvious longing in his voice makes her name sounds like its being dragged out of his throat. 

As the song winds down and their movements slow, she expects him to thank her for the dance and disappear into the crowd. He does just that, but not before he slips a folded up piece of paper into the cuff of her sleeve. 

Hours later, when she's alone in her hotel room, she opens it and reads: _Stay safe, Relena._

 

**I**

It's two months later as she's reading in her study that she hears someone turn the lock in her front door. They had to have bypassed her various security systems, and the doorknob is turning slowly as if care is being taken to ensure it makes as much noise as possible.

She rushes to the front hallway, book abandoned, and waits.

Heero meets her eyes when he steps into her home and he keeps his focus locked on her as he closes the door behind him. There's something soft and vulnerable in his gaze and she's aware of what him finally coming here means -- to him and to them both.

She smiles warmly and holds her hand to out to him in offering, palm up. 

He walks towards her, unhurried, never once looking away as he closes the distance between them and carefully places his hand into hers.


End file.
